Monday, July 04, 2005

BLESSINGS


The platform was crowded. I waited for the train to roll in along with hundreds of passengers. There was anticipation and thrill in the air around me. Anticipation of the weekend ahead... People waited eagerly to meet their wives... girlfriends.. kids..moms... friends... after a week of rush and routine..
My mind was troubled... too much pain and heartburn during the past few weeks...i felt batterd bruised..sort of distant from my world...
I needed a break... badly... I was off to my parents place for the weekend. To destress and recharge...
We found our seats quickly... my boys settled on both sides... I sent an SMS to my husband that everything was fine...
Gautam complained about lack of adequate leg space. He fidgeted for some time... then pulled one end of my dupatta over his eyes... and promptly went to sleep...A,irconditioning always make my elder baby drowsy..
Taj sat quietly reading his set of comics. His huge dark eyes glowed greedily when he saw the cutlets and vadas being sold around... his favourites.
.
I took out an old Jackie Collins novel from my overnighter and started to read… hhhmm… the antics of the fiery smart and bold heroine with her cloud of black curls failed to hold my attention... I smiled to myself... difficult to belive that I had wanted to be like her during my teens...
George of 'Famous Five' had been my role model during my childhood... And Jackie Collin heroines during my late teens.....
i thought about the woman I had grownup to become... soft... emotional... I laughed softly...

I turned the pages trying to find out what was it about the heroine that had made me to adore her...
A folded tiny paper fell down from between the pages... I opened it and read...

“Open your eyes and give your life a glance. Are your basic needs met..? Do you have a home? Food on the table. Cloths to wear..? Is there a regular paycheck coming..?Do you have dreams? Do you have your health…? Can you walk talk see the beauty that surrounds you... listen to muscic that stirs your soul or make your feet want to boogie..? Do you have family and friends whom you love and who loves you..?”


My eyes filled... I thought about the young girl who had copied it from somewhere and placed it between the pages of a favorite novel. She had forgotten about it... but it had come to her when she needed it the most...
I looked out of the window... the stillness of the ashtamudi lake was breathtaking in the setting sunlight...birds were flying back to their nests, a kid was taking a group of goats home...
I thought of my lovely home with its beautiful garden. I thought about the love and security I got there...my parents and sisters who waited for me at the end of the journey...my work which gave me so much certainity and satisfaction...
I signed contently... I couldn’t count my blessings... like stars in the sky I loved to watch at night from my terrace garden they were infinite...
My life ahead beckoned me lovingly. So much love to be shared... books to read... muscic to listen... food and wine... flowers... sunets... rain... and good company to share them...
The beauty and power of simple pleasure that made life beautiful...
I closed my eyes and gave my thanks...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tuesday morning, I rush in to work...irritated, guests at home, my balance and schedules disturbed...but there's so much more apart from temporary hassles...so much worth doing, seeing experiencing! :)
Love the post...I needed to be reminded of a few things :)

Mrs. Dalloway said...

George was my favortite too- misfit being the key term here for me to like her.

Jackie Collins' heroines... Hmmm... they were way too obssessed with sex. Men. Clothes. Vendetta. That don't impress me much.

cactusjump said...

hey there's nothing wrong with being soft :) hugs.

hope and love said...

persephone: txs.ya we all need to be reminded..
poornima: george was my heroine no:1
i used to feel only pity for poor anne..:-))
whay impressed me abt the Jackie Collin heroines was that they were all lady bosses.. and better than the men in their respective fields..
hmmm.. obsession with sex and clothes is fine for me.. were they obsessed with men..? i thought it was the other way round..
:-))
cactusjump: spl txs for the hug.. so swt of you..
hhmm ya soft is ok.. :-))

Tricksand said...

Wants are nonceasiable....being humans we are never satisfied ...that is a simple reality even if someone feels happy in the thimgs he has or see around him he will be corrected or he will be made to change by various factors ..i can say that ....

hope and love said...

did i sound materialistic..?"nothing is bad or good.. but thinking makes it so "
wrote shakespere
what i meant was that simple pleasures are what makes life beautiful.. its not whats around you but what is within you that makes you foccus on them that makes you happy..
oscar wilde wrote.. "nothing can cure the soul but the senses... nothing can cure the senses but the soul.."

clash said...

some people are so content with what they have!

hope and love said...

yes cllaashh..
contentment versus ambition.. i do feel confused sometimes..
;-))
Ajug of wine, a loaf of bread- and Thou
Besides me singing in the wilderness-Oh, Wilderness were paradise enow !
omarkhay'yam

AR said...

why are you envious?. you have retained the essence of womanhood.for that, you should rejoice.

hope and love said...

wow..!! that is a great anjana.. txs.

hope and love said...

but im dissapointed.. i coulnt trace ur profile.. plz mail to me..